This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-143529, filed May 14, 2001, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IC card issuance system that issues an IC card by writing issuance data into a memory for the IC card having at least the memory incorporated therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, as a portable storage medium, there has been utilized in various industrial fields a so called IC card having incorporated therein an IC chip having a nonvolatile data memory and a CPU (central processing unit) for controlling the memory.
An IC card of such type is generally issued by using an IC card issuance device stored in a card issuance company or the like. In this IC card issuance device, IC command data required for functioning an IC card, magnetic encode data, print data and the like are generated by a host computer, and these items of data are sequentially transmitted to an issuance machine. The IC command data is inputted to the IC chip incorporated in the IC card; the magnetic encode data is magnetically recorded on the surface of the IC card, and the print data is printed on the surface of the IC card.
A processing executed in the IC chip in response to the IC command data relevant to the IC chip incorporated in the IC card is one of the most important processings in IC card issuance processing. The IC chip in the IC card comprises means for outputting information indicative of whether or not processing of individual IC command data transmitted has been normally carried out and the issuance device comprises means for judging whether or not command data has been normally transmitted based on output information from the IC chip.
In general, in the IC card issuance device of such type, it is required to prevent the same IC cards from being doubly issued. For example, this device has a double issuance preventing function as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 1-18892. That is, in an IC card issuance device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application KOKAI Publication No. 1-18892, an issued-data recording section is provided in an issuance file of a host computer; flag data indicating the completion of issuance is added to issued issuance data in the issuance file; and the flag data indicating the completion of this issuance is checked, thereby preventing double issuance.
However, in the conventional IC card issuance device described above, in the case where there is an IC card judged to be NG during appearance check such as print data after the end of issuance and emboss data, it has been necessary to manually creating an issuance file of the IC card, thereby reissuing the IC card. That is, in such a case, an operator visually recognizes ID (for example, membership number) of an IC card to be reissued from the appearance of print data, emboss data and the like. Then, the operator operates a master file of a host computer, for example, rewrites issued flag data that corresponds to the IC card into unissued flag data, and reissues the IC card at the IC card issuance device.
In addition, in the case where an IC card is used by an owner, whereby a print image on the IC card surface is unclear or the IC card is damaged, making it necessary to reissue the IC card, in the conventional IC card issuance device, as described above, it has been necessary for the operator to visually recognize ID of the IC card to be reissued from print data, emboss data and the like, thereby reissuing issued flag data after rewritten into unissued flag data, or alternatively, to newly create an issuance file of an IC card to be newly reissued.
However, in the case where the operator incorrectly recognizes ID of the IC card to be reissued, an IC card other than that to be reissued is issued. In this case, there occurs duplicate issuance of the IC card that is not required to reissue.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of one embodiment of the present invention to provide an IC card issuance system capable of reliably preventing reissuing, i.e., incorrect issuance of an IC card other than that to be reissued.
The IC card issuance system according to the present invention comprises: an issuance file which stores each item of issuance data during issuance of each issued IC card; an identification information readout command file which stores a readout command for reading out the identification information from the issued IC card; an identification information readout section which reads out the identification information from an issued first IC card by using the identification information readout command file; an issuance data extracting section which extracts from the issuance file, issuance data that corresponds to identification information read out by the identification information readout section; and a card issuance section which issues a new second IC card identical to the issued first IC card by writing the issuance data extracted by the issuance data extracting section into a memory of an unissued IC card.
Issuance data containing card specific ID is recorded in a memory, a print image and magnetic data each are recorded on a surface, and a number of novel IC cards are fabricated. For example, in the case where an abnormally printed IC card has been found during appearance check, an ID recorded in the memory for the abnormally printed IC card is read by the identification information readout section. Based on this ID, the issuance data corresponding to the ID is extracted from an issuance file of a terminal device by the issuance data extracting section. The issuance data includes various data such as print data and magnetic data as well as the above ID. A card issuance section fabricates a new IC card based on the extracted issuance data.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.